Thursday, February 23, 2006

V Monologue Op/Ed in the Prince

Here's a good op/ed from a member of the Anscombe Society at Princeton on why the Vagina Monologues play doesn't serve women, but rather objectifies them. To reduce a woman to her sexual organ is to deny or ignore her whole personhood - body and soul.

Once again, great job by Anscombe to jump into the fray and defend Truth.

The official website of "The Vagina Monologues" states: "The word 'vagina' is indeed used frequently in the play ... a word that does indeed represent women both physically and metaphysically as a feminine being."

The script of the play goes even further, asserting that the clitoris "is" me: "[She] told me my clitoris was not something I could lose. It was me, the essence of me. It was both the doorbell to my house and the house itself. I didn't have to find it. I had to be it. Be it. Be my clitoris."

These quotes are at the heart of the message "The Vagina Monologues," and this is precisely the message that I oppose.

I am well aware that the goal of the V-Day campaign is to raise awareness and eradicate violence against women, and I support this excellent goal. I don't support, however, the means by which the campaign goes about its goals — namely, promoting the production of "The Vagina Monologues." It is disturbing to me that the content of the play is focused on representing women solely by their sexual organs.

How does the word vagina represent a woman metaphysically? It appears to do so by reducing a woman's very essence solely to a sexual object. Moreover, this sexual object is detached from any authentic notion of female sexuality. "The Vagina Monologues" depicts sexuality in purely naturalistic terms. It details the biology of the vagina, its role in female physiology and its supposedly rightful function as an affirmation of the value of women. "The Vagina Monologues" misconstrue femininity and present the essence of women as simply looking for pleasure in the sexual organ.